Tuesday, June 11, 2013

"We Played A Nice Ballgame Today"

Not only did Corey Kluber melt some faces off with his pitching performance tonight, the Tribe was also out there HITTING the ball! Hitting it to where Rangers were not! Waaaahoo!

So Kluber pitched 7 innings of shutout baseball and didn't give up a run until there were 2 outs in the 8th. He only threw 3 strikeouts, most of his outs were pop-ups. Whatever works, bro! Pretty amazing outing from the kid considering his last outing was sort of awful, and the one before that was aborted by rain. Nice to see our starters keep it together while the team burns down around them.

Did you know the Indians lead the league in throwing shutouts at 8? Wow, me neither. Forgot we were good for a while there!

Joe Smith came in for the 9th and he gave up a home run! No kidding! I was complaining about our starters giving up homers in the beginning of the season and now our relievers are catching up. Eek? As groups, they're both at about 1 homer per 7 innings pitched. Tonight was Smith's second homer in 21 innings (Perez has 4 in 16 - wow!) Then he couldn't get it over the plate on the next guy. But after a quick visit from Mickey Callaway, he got the next two guys out and that was the game!

Speaking of coaches...do you know anything about hitting coach Ty Van Burkleo? No? Neither did I. Turns out the guy has had 38 major league at bats, but played in Japan for 3 years, one of which he was player of the year. He coached for the Angels, A's and Mariners. Not sure why he was brought here by Terry Francona but here he is. Francona must really see something in this guy.

Aside from all that, there's this article that explains how Van Burkleo built his family a 5000-square-foot cabin in the wood. He and his wife raise a 6 year old with Downs syndrome and autism. He once owned a pizza restaurant and he knows how to surf. I wonder how the hell this guy likes Cleveland, you know?

If anyone can light a fire under the asses of this super-talented lineup, I suspect it would be Wild Man Van Burkleo!

Bourn had the day off, but you know if he was in he woulda been out there doing some good. Instead Drew Stubbs (of Texas, by God) was our leadoff man. He only went 1 for 5 but his one hit was a big one - a 2-RBI single! Never give up, Drew Stubbs!

Jason Kipnis went 1 for 3 with a walk. He's got a 6-game hitting streak. Huh! I had no idea anyone had gotten any hits over the past 6 games but there you have it - Kipnis. He also stole a base and is up to 14 now, tied for 4th in the league. Also huh!

Nick Swisher and his stupid face got another hit today. That's 3 hits in the last 3 games. Well...yeah. Ok. Also, 11 strikeouts in his last 9 games so - DO BETTER, SWISHER!

Our man Ryan Raburn was back in for the 4th game in a row, hitting cleanup today. He is the only guy to get extra bases, with a double to lead off the 4th. Then he came around to score the game's first run.

Mark Reynolds broke a long hitless streak and went 2 for 4 today with an RBI. Perhaps he's all pumped now that he's playing some pretty good 3rd base? Him and Brantley went halfsies on this awesome, awesome play - an outfield assist!

Brantley has 6 outfield assists now. Or maybe 7, I'm not sure how their stats are set up. Anyway, he's either tied for 2nd or 3rd in the league. Cool!

Once we were up 5-1, they brought in John McDonald for the 9th to play 3rd. Very interesting to see how he'll fit in here, in play. He said he's excited to teach young kids about baseball - with Giambi and Swisher and now McDonald giving out lessons, I hope the young guys don't start getting a chip on their shoulders about always being the young guys!

Did you know Brantley hasn't been hitting much lately? Yuck. He did steal a base, though. He actually stole it twice because he was successful but Gomes hit a foul ball, so he had to go back to first. But he stole the base again, this time for real. Today Brantley went 1 for 3. Santana went 1 for 3. Gomes also went 1 for 3, and apparently all of his outs were big strong hits. Of course - he is Gooooooooomes!

Aviles was the only guy left to hit in the 9-hole today. He's actually doing kind of well, with 11 hits in his last 10 games. Today he went 2 for 4 and stole a base as well. We all run off AJ Pierzynski! (And then he hits a homer off us)

So is this the first game of many? Are we crawling up from the pits of hell in to a respectable baseball season? What do you think Terry Francona told them to finally get them up and out? I think he told them that Cleveland's median income is $25,000 a year and they make $73.7 million a year so maybe they need to get their heads out of their butts and realize they are millionaires playing a child's game and it is time to play good! JUST PLAY GOOD!

Terry Francona said in his press conference today that "We played a nice ballgame today" so maybe that's all he asked of them. Just play a nice goddamn ballgame. Or something.

Tomorrow is our last night in Texas before a day off. It's another 8:05 game, where we roll out Ubaldo to face RHP 3.92. The team has 47 homers off RHP versus just 28 off lefties. Maybe next it's time for one of THOSE kinds of games...

I'll see you there!

Radio Chatter:
"He gets an A for hustle but an F for baserunning."
- Tom Hamilton on Santana's out in the first

"Chris Spielman was a great football player. Brian Bosworth pretended he was a football player."
- Tom Hamilton

"Garcia was like in a little league game. I'm just going to run until somebody tags me out! Ron Washington has strapped Garcia to the bat rack."
- Tom Hamilton